This patent application is related generally to software component development, and more particularly to an integrated test environment for testing software components.
The development and use of the JAVA programming language from Sun Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif. has greatly influenced today""s computing environment. Software developers are turning to creating components, rather than monolithic applications, to free themselves from slow, expensive application development and to build up a portable reusable code base. This enables developers to quickly attack new market opportunities, new joint development opportunities, and new ways to sell smaller packages of software.
Components, including Java xe2x80x98Beansxe2x80x99, and frameworks and class libraries, are designed to provide standard solutions to common problems that can be easily extended to deliver tailored solutions. JavaBeans is generally known as a portable, platform-independent component model written in JAVA and intended to work in a visual development tool. The entire runtime environment required by JavaBeans is part of the JAVA platform. JavaBeans allow developers to write reusable components once and run them anywhere, i.e., on any platform. Thus, JavaBean components or Beans are reusable software components that can be manipulated visually in a builder tool and can be combined to create JAVA applications or Web-centric applets.
With the ability to develop commercial components in JAVA that can be written once and run anywhere, the reliability of functionality of the components is crucial. Ensuring the integrity of the component product through thorough and high quality testing thus becomes a paramount concern for developers.
The traditional approach to assuring quality in software products has been to involve a Quality Assurance (QA) group late in the development process to test the end product. The difficulty with the xe2x80x9cend of assembly linexe2x80x9d approach to QA is that quality and testability have to be engineered into a product throughout the development life cycle. Unless the developers are mindful of clear quality objectives and are equipped with the tools to measure progress toward the objectives, quality cannot be ensured on a consistent basis. Integrated Development Environments, such as IBM""s VisualAge product suite, have attempted to provide a unified environment for development engineers"" tools, including source code editors, source code managers, compilation tools, and run time debuggers. However, a need still exists for an improved approach for more efficient and effective software component testing that integrates the tools and data needed by test engineers.
Further, in software testing, particularly performance testing, it is important to begin with the same base environment in order to conduct repeatable tests. For example, given the large number of run environments for JavaBeans, having a dedicated machine for each JAVA runtime environment to ensure the same base environment increases the hardware costs beyond reason. However, without the use of dedicated machines, inordinate amounts of time are necessary to knock down and rebuild the test environment as required by each suite of tests on the various platforms. Accordingly, an innovative approach is needed to manage the testing environment that provides a clean testing environment for each test.
The present invention meets these needs and provides method and system aspects for test execution for software components within the context of automatic test framework. In the method aspect, the method includes reading an executable file of the component and executing a test case code generator automatically on the executable file. Generation of a skeleton test suite is further included as a base for an individualized test case of the component. Thus, the generated code is modified by hand, as needed. The method is designed for use within a test execution framework to automate test runs and capture test results.
With the present invention, an efficient approach to performing component testing is achieved. Automatic test framework capabilities increase consistency and reduce manual hand-coding requirements for developing and running test cases. Further, innovative use of partition images ensures the integrity of test environments without requiring a concomitant expense of having multiple dedicated machines for each platform for which a component is tested. Reliability and consistency of testing are thus effectively achieved through the present invention. Additionally, the integrated test environment achieved by the present invention through the use of a single client user interface, a database server, application server, web server and client application code integrates the tools and data needed by test engineers. The testing tools include facilities for: developing and executing suites of related test cases, developing and executing testing checklists, documenting and tracking software defects discovered in the course of testing, help files and other documentation defining the testing standards, methods and procedures and centralized reporting facilities. Further, the integrated test environment implements an open architecture to enable third party plug-ins to extend the integrated test environment user interface, making these tools available through the common user interface as well. These and other advantages of the aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood in conjunction with the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.